Chapter 7

[Heathclyf]

------------------------- Followup To - Mr. Markus:

I have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Ohio. It was discharged August 13 of this year. I included several of my utilities in this bankruptcy. Before my discharge date, I filed an amendment to the bankruptcy to include debt that I had accumulated with a few of these utility companies to charge off. This additional debt is in addition to the debt I had incurred when I filed and named the same utility companies in the original filing. My attorney advised me before I did this that technically, I can do this, as long as the amendment was filed before the discharge date. The 2 utility companies have ignored the requests for reimbursement to me by my attorney and out and out refuses to aknowledge this amendment and its dischargabliity. My attorney says that they are confusing chapter 7 with chapter 13. The dollar amount between these 2 utility companies are in excess of $400.00. My attorney is now saying that I might have to retain him further and it is starting to get out of the scope of the bankruptcy itself. Can these be discharged though an amendment and if so, under what subchapter and section in the Chapter can it be discharged? Please Help...I need a second opinion

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Tony

[Frantz]

- I'm not sure I understand your facts.  You listed these creditors already, but you amended to include additional debt owed to them from before your bankruptcy case was filed?  (I assume that's what you mean, because debt incurred after the case is filed is definitely not covered by your discharge).   I don't know what the law is in your circuit, but out here in California the discharge in a no-asset Chapter 7 case covers all debts whether scheduled or not, so amendment is unnecessary.  However, I'm really not sure I understand your facts, or what reimbursement you are seeking, so perhaps if I haven't answered your question you can clarify what you meant.

I' m sorry-The additional debit was incurred from the time of the original file date of 4/16/2004 through 8/10/2004(when the amendment was filed). So in essence, these two companies were listed twice within the same bankruptcy case number. On the 4/16/2004 filing date, everything was written off and the utility companies reopened all of my accounts fresh, just like a new customer. So from 4/16/2004, through 8/10/2004(amendment filing), I included 2 of the same utilities in the amendment for debit incurred throgh that time. So in answer to your question, no, the amendment that was filed DID NOT include debit from before the bankruptcy was filed but rather after it was filed up to the amendment date. Incidentally, I think you answered my question when you said that debt incurred after the case is filed is definitely not covered by your discharge. If thats the case, than I should have waited until just before my discherge date to include these creditors. The reimbursement that I was speaking of involves the money that I paid them between the original file date and the amendment date. My attorney told me that I am due that back because from the utilities because I filed that amendment to include additional debt after the bankruptcy was filed but before the discharge date. However the utilities are not accepting the amendment filing and my attorney wants an additional retainer to fight this and get my money back, if I want to pursue it.

Thanks you for donating your time and professionalism to this site-it does not go unnoticed

Respectfully,

Tony

[Wesley]

Yea, I'm still not understanding what your attorney is thinking, so maybe I'm missing something.  First of all, your discharge date is irrelevant.  It is the filing date that matters.  Any debt incurred prior to that is part of your bankruptcy, and anything after is not.  Think about it for a minute.  Could debts you incur for the rest of your life be covered as part of your prior bankruptcy case?  Of course not.  If they were, everybody in the country would file bankruptcy as soon as they were old enough to sign the papers and then run up debts the rest of their lives.